1.1.6-Kingedmundsroyalmurder
Brick!club day 6: of architecture, safety, and interpersonal relationships In chapter six we learn that the Bishop has too few chairs, is too attached to his silver (obvious foreshadowing is obvious), and has no concept of his own personal safety. Also that the women he lives with are even more awesome than I thought before. First thing first: who lives in the third upstairs bedroom? Is it a sitting room for Mlle Baptistine? Did Hugo forget about it in the middle of his chapter? Did I just miss that information somewhere? Also, the kitchen is outside? I feel sorry for Mme. Magloire, having to leave the house so regularly in the winter. "Je paye ma dîme, disait-il." ("I’m paying my tithe," he said.) I like this, because it’s just another little piece of characterization that cements the Bishop’s view of the world. The tithe given to the church is, I believe, officially meant to be redistributed to those who need it, so the Bishop, being the church, pays his directly to those in need. (Sidenote: I am super curious to know how the director of the hospital feels about the Bishop.) Okay, so he spends his winter days with the cows to keep warm so as not to have to buy wood. Do the women go with him, or do they make do with blankets and cuddling? Also, the Bishop has a habit of taking money given to him for a specific purpose and doing something else with it. I’m wondering if this is strictly moral, or if he’s playing fast and loose with morality for the sake of the greater good. Does that make him selfless or does it make him dishonest? (Though the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive now that I think about it.) I think it was pilferingapplies who talked about this line: “D’ailleurs qui est-ce qui atteint son idéal?” (Anyway, who is it who reaches their ideal?) I don’t have much to add to her commentary but the line is interesting because a lot of the book is about fighting for an ideal you know you can never reach. Even the Bishop strives to be perfectly selfless and compassionate and can’t quite get there (thus is whole ‘everyone will eventually give in to temptation’ bit). It’s a very defeatist sentence given the content of the rest of the book. "Madame Magloire, répondit l’évêque, vous vous trompez. Le beau est aussi utile que l’utile. Il ajouta après un silence: Plus peut-être." ("Mme. Magloire," the Bishop replied, "you are mistaken. The beautiful is as useful as the functional." He added after a moment of silence, "More so, maybe.") I’m just going to quote from my annotations here: This is very much in keeping with his personality, both in the sense of appreciating the intangible things and in the sense of doing what he wants regardless of what anyone else thinks. "Il respectait beaucoup les savants, il respectait encore plus les ignorants" (He respected scholars greatly, he respected the ignorant even more). This sentence confused me. I sort of get what Hugo is trying to say, but it also seems to fly in the face of his earlier insistence on the virtues and importance of education. I feel like it would be more in keeping with the Bishop’s philosophy to respect the people who are ignorant but not their ignorance itself. And maybe that’s what Hugo is saying and I’m misinterpreting, but it seems to me that this is kind of out of character. Others have talked about Mlle Baptistine and Mme. Magloire and the locked doors already, so the only thing I’ll add is this quote: “Elles avaient fini par partager sa confiance ou du moins par faire comme si elles la partageaient.” (In the end they shared his confidence or at least acted like they shared it.) Though Mme. Magloire does set the visiting vicar on him at least that one time, though it doesn’t do any good. Honestly this whole thing is painting a very “married to his work” picture of the Bishop. He is a genuinely good person and he is doing good work but he’s so wrapped up in that that he doesn’t focus nearly enough on his family and the people close to him. They let him get away with it because of temperament and station in society but he’s still being fairly inconsiderate. Like, at least admit that their concern is valid and that it’s okay to be worried! For someone so compassionate he seems remarkably unsympathetic towards his family. (In the ‘does not sympathize’ sense, not the ‘actively unpleasant’ one.) Commentary Simulatedstars *going to snip this a bit so as to resopnd to certain bits :) * First thing first: who lives in the third upstairs bedroom? Is it a sitting room for Mlle Baptistine? Did Hugo forget about it in the middle of his chapter? Did I just miss that information somewhere? Also, the kitchen is outside? I feel sorry for Mme. Magloire, having to leave the house so regularly in the winter. I can’t say anything about the bedrooms (maybe there’s just those three rooms upstairs and they use them as they will??), though in my translation (Rose), it’s stated that “The hospital pharmacy, a small building tacked onto the house… had been turned into a kitchen and cellar”. Thought it was quite common at some point in history that the kitchens would be as far away from the house as possible in order to lower the risk of setting the house on fire :p Okay, so he spends his winter days with the cows to keep warm so as not to have to buy wood. Do the women go with him, or do they make do with blankets and cuddling? The implication I got was that it was only the bishop’s bedroom that was hard to heat up? I would assume that the other rooms were easier to warm, and thus not so much wood was needed so he didn’t mind as much?? I suppose it’s another point where the bishop (and Hugo for not mentioning it…) seems to ignore the needs of his household just because he doesn’t mind living in poverty. I think it was pilferingapplies who talked about this line: “D’ailleurs qui est-ce qui atteint son idéal?” (Anyway, who is it who reaches their ideal?) I don’t have much to add to her commentary but the line is interesting because a lot of the book is about fighting for an ideal you know you can never reach. Even the Bishop strives to be perfectly selfless and compassionate and can’t quite get there (thus is whole ‘everyone will eventually give in to temptation’ bit). It’s a very defeatist sentence given the content of the rest of the book. I got that feeling too, and can’t quite reconcile myself to the contradictory nature of it… Unless he’s trying to point out that attaining for material ideals isn’t as good as straining for moral ones?? Idk, it’s a weird contradictory sentence. Doeskin-pantaloons (reply to Simulatedstars) In terms of ‘Who really achieves their ideal?’ I would say that Hugo is more pointing out that while we’re all really feeling for the Bishop’s poor sister over here, basically, there are an awful lot of people in the world who are also not reaching their ideals. And possibly a lot of them are more neccessary/meaningful ideals that owning a fancy couch. Hugo is on to the fact that we all got really upset about the couch, and is trying to set us back on the track of going - “But wait, most people in this area don’t even have windows!” That’s my theory, anyway, to explain why Hugo is so horribly defeatist so early on. Alasse-irena (reply to Doeskin-pantaloons' reply) I like your train of thought. Hugo may be sharper than we give him credit for. Doeskin-pantaloons Also, I meant to add - the ladies are defs just cuddling.